


Thank You

by starsinger



Category: Star Trek: Alternate Original Series (Movies)
Genre: Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-02-16
Updated: 2014-02-16
Packaged: 2018-01-12 15:36:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,450
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1190481
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/starsinger/pseuds/starsinger
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim saved everyone by realigning the warp core, even though it cost him his life. Bones wants to thank him in a very special way. Don’t own them.<br/>Shout out to Hora_tio/Redford for the Beta! Your help was wonderful.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Thank You

“DADDY!!!” Bones turned in the hospital corridor to find a small force of nature flying down the corridor toward him. Stunned, he bent down and scooped his daughter up into his arms and hugged her tight, tears streaming down his face. Just hours before, he never thought he’d ever see his little girl again. His eyes met Jocelyn’s as she walked toward them.

“You look terrible, Leonard,” his ex-wife told him quietly. “How is he?” Leonard simply took her to Jim’s room, even Jocelyn looked stunned. “Is he even alive?”

“Barely,” Bones responded, holding onto Joanna. “How long will you be here?”

“A couple of weeks, I have business here and Jo needs to see her father,” Joce said. She left an address where he could find them. Bones reluctantly let go of Jo and watched as the two walked back down the corridor. Then, he turned back to the room.

“Oh, god, Jim, if you hadn’t gone into the warp core, I’d never have seen Jo again. How do I even begin to thank you for that?” he whispered. Well, the first answer to that was by saving the man’s life. A gargantuan task that he spent the better part of two weeks doing. Technically, Jim’s attending was Dr. Boyce, but Boyce was kind enough to supervise while Bones did most of the work. The hardest part was getting Jim’s body to accept Khan’s blood. He kept trying to fight it, but it finally worked. Bones nearly wept with joy as Jim’s blue eyes finally opened to the waking world, sunshine streaming in the windows near his bed.

“Oh, don’t be such an infant, you were barely dead,” the words fell from Bones’ mouth before he could stop them. Jim blinked at him as the conversation continued. Bones loved hearing his voice again, even as scratchy as it was from disuse. Spock soon came into the picture and Bones hid a smile as Jim thanked him and quirked his eyebrow at his doctor. Jim didn’t last long, he was fast asleep within minutes of comin out of the coma. Bones motioned Spock out of the door before following him. He leaned against the wall and let out a big sigh of relief.

Spock looked at him, raising an eyebrow of his own, “I shall inform the rest of the crew that he has awakened.”

“Thank you, Spock. Just tell them to comm me before they come and see him,” McCoy responded. Spock nodded before departing.

The next day Bones walked into the room to see an apparent staring contest. Jo won as Jim’s eyes drooped shut. Jo took particular glee with her Uncle Jim’s condition. Sure, he couldn’t get out of bed and play, but he had to eat what Daddy gave him and take frequent naps just like Mommy made her. McCoy sighed, this outcome had been a happy, where so many hadn’t. He was still signing death certificates of those who died on the Enterprise. Spock had taken care of the letters of condolence, all Jim had to do was recover.

It wasn’t easy, Jim had a lot of physical recovery to do. His legs weren’t working too well after weeks spent in bed getting better. He found himself struggling to even walk to the bathroom without help. The worst were the nightmares. Jim would wake up in the middle of the night, sometimes screaming. Bones had rarely left his side since the entire ordeal had started. One night Jim woke up screaming and gasping for breath. Bones struggled out of the cot that had been set up in the room for him.

“Jim! Jim! Wake up, you’re alright! You’re in the hospital, you’re okay!” Bones whispered to him, trying to get him to calm down.

“Bones?” Jim gasped out, his entire body shuddering.

“Yes, Jim, it’s me,” Bones whispered grasping the younger man’s hand. Gradually Jim settled down. Bones coaxed Jim to move over and turn onto his side as he slid into the bed next to him. Bones lay down behind him and wrapped an arm around his waist. Jim rested back against Bones, taking comfort in the older man’s very real presence. Soon, Jim settled down and went back to sleep, secure in Bones’ arms. Bones had never held Jim like this. It stirred feelings inside him that long lay dormant. He quietly laid a kiss on Jim’s back. Jim stirred slightly in his arms before settling back down to sleep. Bones soon joined Jim in dream land.

It was with much trepidation and relief that Bones released Jim from the hospital three days later. He felt Jim’s recovery would be better at home, surrounded by familiar objects. Jim’s quarters on the Enterprise were as sparse as his lifestyle dictated, but what few things there were had been transferred to the apartment that he and Bones had rented right before they left for Nibiru. It was a cold San Francisco morning when Jim left bundled up in the wheelchair and returned home at long last.

Jim sighed as he settled into the couch and almost immediately fell asleep. Bones smiled, he was home and comfortable and secure, that’s all that mattered in Jim’s mind. He could now just relax. Meanwhile, Bones was planning a very special “thank you” for Jim. Opening the body bag and knowing that the person who lay in it had saved the ship and sacrificed himself in the process had been one thing. When Jim’s face was exposed to the harsh light of Sickbay Bones’ entire world had shattered into a million pieces.

Soon, Jim awoke and pulled over a PADD and was going over what was expected of him before the Enterprise’s recommissioning. It still amazed Bones that the Enterprise was being returned to their care after all the abuse she and her crew had been through.

Bones managed to make some coffee, and gave Jim a cup, just like he liked it, black with no cream or sugar. Jim’s Yeoman was a fount of information and clued Bones in on that little tidbit. Jim smiled at Bones as he thanked him. Bones found his own PADD and went through his messages. Mom wanted to know when he was bringing Jim down for a visit. Uhura and Rand were setting up a birthday party for Jim in a couple of days, did he have any suggestions for presents? Jocelyn forwarded a picture drawn by Jo for school. It was Daddy and Uncle Jim, and above them was her rendition of the USS Enterprise. It was actually pretty good for a five year old. Bones turned it around to show Jim and they both got a good chuckle out of it.

Jim turned in first, not surprising since he was still recovering. Bones put down the PADD in his hand, he had plans of his own for Jim’s birthday. Two days after Uhura and Rand’s epic birthday party Bones took Jim home to Georgia. His mother fussed over him, and Bones just smiled. They needed the break, away from all the reminders of what had happened with Khan. San Francisco was still, largely, a ruined mess, and that reminded Jim and Bones, daily, what happened to Jim. Eleanor slyly put Jim in a room next to Bones’ old room, not being subtle at all.

Jim wasn’t used to large feather beds, and it took him all of ten minutes to make his way out of the huge bed. Bones came in, brushing his teeth and laughing at Jim’s flailing arms and legs. “How do you get out of this thing?” Jim asked frustrated.

Bones reached out a hand to help his friend to the edge of the bed, and unfortunately found himself tangled up in the sheets with him. It was here that Eleanor found both boys, mostly naked, tangled up in sheets that barely managed to cover said naked bits. “What are you two doing? I can hear you both down in the kitchen?!”

Jim blushed, “Trying to get out of bed,” he mumbled.

“Did you try rolling?” she asked, pointedly. Jim blushed, Bones found himself trying to cover up some naughty bits that had come uncovered, and Eleanor snorted at both of them, “Len, I saw those bits before you were even born. Jim, I’m the widow of a doctor, and I’ve seen it all before. Now you two get up and get ready for breakfast. Jo will be here any minute, and she’s expecting you to take her to the zoo.” That had them both out of the bed in a heartbeat, bits covered or not.

The local zoo had an extremely rare oddity that it was trying to breed, and Jim and Bones were curious enough to want to see them. Before the destruction of Vulcan, several breeding pairs of Mt. Seleyan Sky Eagles had been shipped off-planet in an attempt to save the species. No one could have suspected that they would become the last bastion of the species when Vulcan was destroyed two years later. They’d tried several worlds, but, somehow, these Sky Eagles did best on sub-tropical Earth. No one could quite explain why they did so well going from a desert environment to one that was damp and humid most of the year, and occasionally did get snow.

The five breeding pairs at the local zoo got along so well, that there were thirteen chicks this year; this was a success after having only five chicks the previous two years. Jim and Bones had to admit it was funny watching the three week old chicks clumsily find their way around after their parents. The hope was to transfer these chicks to New Vulcan, and make them part of the ecology there. Even Vulcan Scientists weren’t quite sure how they’d manage that, but they were going to try. Jo crowed with laughter as the young birds were even clumsier than she.

Soon, they wandered off in search of the two baby elephants that had born in the past couple of months. They provided endless entertainment as they chased each other and the adult elephants around the yard.

They were eating at a local café there at the park when Jo asked innocently, “Uncle Jim? Why aren’t you dating Daddy?”

Bones quickly stepped in, “Why are you asking us this question, sweetheart?”

“Well, you two love each other, and that’s one of those things people who love each other do, right?” Jo asked oh so innocently.

“We haven’t had a lot of time lately, Jo,” Jim responded. “First we were at the Academy, then on the Enterprise, and then I was really sick.” Bones had to admire the way Jim was handling the situation. Although, it was kind of nice that Jo wasn’t bothered by the idea of two men together, even in this world.

“But that never stopped Uncle Spock and Aunt Uhura,” Jo responded.

“Well, neither of them spent the last six months in the hospital, either, JoJo,” Bones responded. Jo nodded, she knew that Uncle Jim had been very sick, she’d seen it. This, however, gave Bones the perfect opening for something he’d been working on. “So, how about it, Jim. Wanna go out tomorrow night?”

Jo started hopping up and down in her chair as Jim looked at Bones with a raised eyebrow, “Okay, that sounds like it would be fun.” Bones grinned as Jo started chattering about what they should do the next evening. Jo, of course, could not contain her excitement as she bounced into the McCoy household. She announced to her grandmother that Uncle Jim and Daddy were going on a date.

Eleanor looked at her son with barely contained amusement as she seemed to bounce through the house, “Maybe we shouldn’t have bought her that cotton candy,” Bones mused as Jim burst into laughter.

It was decided that the two wouldn’t go out in Starfleet uniforms. They were, after all, on shore leave, and they could go in civvies. They went casually dressed, unable to want to go in a suit and tie after spending so many hours in dress grays. Jim wore blue jeans, and gray pullover sweater, a black leather bomber jacket, and white sneakers. Bones managed to pull out a pair of nice navy blue slacks, a white pullover sweater, and navy blue jacket and sneakers. Eleanor, Jocelyn, and Jo all declared that they looked “spiffy”. Jim wondered aloud if that was even a word anymore.

The town the McCoys inhabited was a small one, where everyone knew everyone else. They were also secluded enough to know not to bother their most famous residents.

The waitress at the restaurant was professional enough that she received a good tip. The guy selling tickets for the latest “Rocky” movie didn’t even blink when the two walked up and bought tickets.

Bones commented afterwards, “Ya know, I would have thought they’d stop making these movies after that Stalone guy died two hundred years ago.”

“Well, that was pretty bad,” Jim replied as they strolled up the street. It still amazed them that with all the lights in the world, there were still parts of it that had the occasional streetlight and porch light on in the distance.

They arrived at the McCoy residence and Bones stopped Jim on the front porch, “Hey, I wanted to thank you.” He hesitantly raised a hand to Jim’s forehead and brushed a strand of hair from it, “If you hadn’t gone into that warp core chamber, I would never have seen Jo again.”

“Bones…”

“No, let me finish. I didn’t realize how much you meant to me until you landed on my table in a body bag. I know you don’t remember that, and that’s okay, you were slightly dead.” Jim chuckled. “Jim, I didn’t realize until that moment how much you meant to me.”

Bones took a deep breath and stepped forward, closer to Jim, “I love you Jim.” With that, Jim found himself being kissed by Bones, his best friend. To Bones’ utter amazement Jim simply relaxed into the kiss even allowing a little tongue action. This lasted until someone, Bones suspected it was his mother, turned on the porch light. They went inside and no one said anything other than asking how the night went.

The next morning, Eleanor, maybe a little **too** curious for her own good, went in and peeked in on house guest. She didn’t find Jim in his room, but she did find both of them curled up together in her son’s bed, having apparently spent an agreeable night together. Eleanor smiled, this had gone better than she could ever have hoped for.

 


End file.
